NAples Chamber Blog

NAPLES, FL (Dec. 18, 2018) – The Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Collier County Commissioners selected Grace Place for Children and Families as the Business of the Month for December 2018.Each month, the award is presented to an organization that has enhanced the community through financial, volunteer and active involvement in organizations and programs that assist in creating a better quality of life for all citizens in Collier County.

The Board of Collier County Commissioners and Bethany Sawyer, the director of membership at The Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce, presented Tim Ferguson, CEO, with a commemorative plaque at the Dec. 11, 2018 County Commission meeting.​Grace Place for Children and Families is a non-profit educational agency serving children and families identified as at-risk in the Golden Gate community. Comprehensive family literacy, early childhood education, out of school and summer programs, adult education and a weekly food pantry are the core educational and support services designed and delivered to break the cycle of poverty for children and families through education in Golden Gate.

Grace Place for Children and Families provides comprehensive programming to over 950 students and 700 families residing in the Golden Gate community. Education programs include early childhood education, school-age and adult education. English language learning, financial literacy and citizenship classes support the educational needs of adults in Collier County. The weekly Food Pantry program provides essential supplemental food to needy families in Collier County.

The organization has over 500 volunteers from the community supporting all the educational and support services programs provided through Grace Place. Additionally, Grace Place collaborates with multiple organizations in Collier County, the State of Florida and at the national level providing services and support to children and families identified as at-risk residing in Collier County.

Happy holidays and thank you to our Visitor Information Center Volunteers! Each year all VIC volunteers gather to share the spirit of the Holidays and to celebrate the commitment they have for each other with friendship and enthusiasm as we start another New Year.

This year our Volunteers of the Year areSue Corrigan and Kay Passensky! As Lori Lou Waddell, the Chamber's visitor information specialist put it...

“If tenure was the only prerequisite for being recognized for an award at the Visitor Information Center, our next two recipients would have earned a place at the podium many, many years ago, but, length of service is only one component of being a Super Hero Volunteer.

Our volunteers wear so many hats during the course of one day…they are navigators, referral sources, community supporters, historians and problem solvers for thousands of guests every year.

Our award winners are best of friends, who together with purpose and aplomb, have been making their annual snowbird migration down to Naples since 1998…that’s 20 years of commuting and communicating on our behalf.

They are both retired from individually notable careers as educators, and maintain that teaching and education, at all levels is the corner stone that prepares us for our own distinct life journey.

With the sincere desire to help our visitors with information about Chamber members and meticulous details about Collier County’s history, I know that Sue Corrigan and Kay Passensky are the perfect choice for this year’s volunteer of the year award.

We congratulate and honor our dual award winners, for their 20 years of volunteer service and their voice to ensure that Collier County continues to be the best place in American to live, work and visit."​We know that the impact of volunteerism is so significant, to those doing it and those receiving it, that we can’t accurately measure it, and, it is for this reason that the benevolence that unites us for the good of others is so important. The ROI on volunteerism is simply too big to tabulate with numbers alone.

We have a lot to be thankful for…and the annual list of volunteers who deserve applause for their dedication as a VIC Volunteer is yet another example.

This year, we congratulate and recognize Hildegard Carney, Peg Connors, Myron Johnson, Carol Pribble and Gayle Rose for their 11 years of volunteerism.

Congratulations to our volunteers who have served for a span between 18 to 24 years at the VIC, and they are, in alphabetical order: the afore mentioned Sue Corrigan and Kay Passensky with 20 years, Ethel Ferraro (18 years), Mary Liz Fronmuller (21 years), Jack Kaufman (22 years) and Pat Peters (18 years).

And a special thank you to Mary Lou Connone, who celebrated 25 years of volunteerism with us last year and raises the bar and inspires all of us.

Including all of our volunteers, this year we logged in a total of 439 years of service dedicated to educating our visitors about all of the fun that is waiting, just around the corner for them, in Naples and Collier County.

We have a powerful and positive image of Naples to uphold and we are proud and grateful that we get to do it with each of our wonderful and committed VIC Volunteers!

Last year, just before Christmas, a woman named Jessica and her two children came to our emergency shelter. Jessica had found the courage to take her children and leave her abusive boyfriend, but each time she found a family to take them in, he would hunt them down, endangering everyone involved. On one occasion, he found Jessica and beat her so badly that she ended up in the hospital, where medical staff referred her to The Shelter.

It was very difficult for Jessica to bring her children to an emergency shelter during the holiday season. Over the course of their first few days in shelter, a staff member set up a special mailbox to collect children’s letters to Santa Claus. The letters allowed the children to share their wishes as well as the opportunity for shelter staff and volunteers to make those wishes come true.

While reading through the letters, one advocate stopped to wipe away a tear. In her hand she held the letter from Jessica’s seven year old son Isaiah. It simply read, “Dear Santa, What I want for Christmas is a house for me and my family.”

It was his only wish. Something that most of us take for granted – a safe place to live – was the greatest gift this seven year old could imagine for himself and his family.

Isaiah received several toys and some new clothes that year, but thanks to The Shelter and its many service partners, he eventually got his special Christmas wish. During her time at The Shelter, Jessica was empowered to take charge of her life. She secured a job and saved up enough money to move her family into a tiny one-bedroom apartment. Although small in size, having their own place was a big accomplishment for Jessica and a dream-come-true for Isaiah.

It's stories like this why we choose to give back to our wonderful community. The Shelter for Abused Women and Children is a receiving organization on our 2018 Stuff a Bus Toy Drive. We invite you to stop by the Coastland Center Mall on December 20 to help us stuff a bus full of toys for those at the Shelter and Youth Haven. Learn more about the toy drive here.​The woman and child’s names have been changed to protect their identities.

Pull together a list of people you trust from your various audiences: customers, suppliers, partners, industry colleagues, team members and managers. Throw your net wide, and choose people who will give you honest feedback. Then ask for it.

Send out an email requesting frank answers to these questions:

What do I (or we) do well – maybe better than anyone else you know?

Where do I (or we) consistently slip up?

Where do I (or we) fall short of what I say I am? (or we say we are?)

If that feels risky, it’s because it is. That’s why we start with getting solid in what went right.

Listening this way takes courage, and it’s worth it. It helps you identify the real gaps your 2019 business strategy needs to fill – the ones that affect the relationships your business is built on.

ACTGrounded in self-awareness and insightful feedback, you’re ready to set your sights on 2019. It’s time for mindful action.

There are a variety of tools that can help with visioning for your business (like SMART Goals, OKRs and Golden Circle). Choose one that works for you and fully engage your team in deploying it. Create a safe container to call forward your team’s most innovative thinking. Then make clear, effective agreements about who will do what in the coming year.

Want to share your experience or get more information? Please contact me. I’d be delighted to exchange ideas with you.

Jennifer Wasmer is the founder of DaySpring Communications, a communication consulting and coaching firm that focuses on the application of Authentic Communication for organizations, teams and individuals. Based on her 25-year career in public relations, corporate communications and coaching, Jennifer developed the Authentic Communication methodology to enhance efficiency and effectiveness, reduce misunderstandings and missed opportunities, and infuse dignity and integrity into relationships with teammates, clients, family and friends. ​